[jamsat-news:1908] ANS-102 AMSAT Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE

ANS-102

ANS is a free, weekly, news and information service of AMSAT North
America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS reports on
the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who
share an active interest in designing, building, launching and
communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites.

Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to:
ans-editor@amsat.org


In this edition:
*  AMSAT-NA member survey underway
*  AMSAT News Service Editors wanted
*  AMSAT-SM (Sweden) new web address and e-mail
*  ARISS Status  06 April 2004
*  Eagle Q&A
*  FAA Issues License for Sub-Orbital Manned Rocket Tests
*  Hamvention 2004:  AMSAT events
*  This Week's News in Brief


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-102.01
AMSAT-NA member survey underway

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 102.01 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD.  April 11, 2004
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-102.01

About 400 members of AMSAT-NA will receive a copy of the members survey in
the next few days. The survey envelop contains a small gift to you to enable
you  to promptly fill out the survey and to return it as soon as possible.
The members who receive this survey were selected at random, and your Board
of Directors hope to get a true picture of the membership, and your needs
and expectations from the survey.

Through the generosity of one of our members, the costs incurred in
developing, mailing and the small gift have not been a part of AMSAT's
expenses.  If you are one of the members selected to receive this survey, we
will be relying on you to return it and provide AMSAT with your thoughts as
soon as possible.

73
Robin Haighton VE3FRH
President AMSAT-NA

[ANS thanks Robin, VE3FRH for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-102.02
AMSAT News Service Editors wanted

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 102.02 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD.  April 11, 2004
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-102.02

The AMSAT News Service (ANS) is currently seeking volunteer editors to
assist with the preparation of the Weekly Bulletins.  Volunteers will work
with the existing ANS editors on a rotating schedule to produce the weekly
news bulletin.  In a typical rotation each editor is responsible for
producing the bulletins once a month.  Since the entire ANS staff is
volunteer, we always work together to accommodate schedules and unforeseen
events.

If you'd like to be part of the team please contact me at ku4os@amsat.org

Lee McLamb-KU4OS,
ANS Senior Editor

[ANS thanks Lee, KU4OS for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-102.03
AMSAT-SM (Sweden) new web address and e-mail

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 102.03 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD.  April 11, 2004
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-102.03

AMSAT-SM (Sweden) has a new web address and e-mail:

www.amsat.se
e-mail: info@amsat.se

Please update links and local information pages!

[ANS thanks Lars, SM0TGU for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-102.04
ARISS Status  06 April 2004

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 102.04 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD.  April 11, 2004
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-102.04

1.  Saint-Mard Schools Contact Successful

The two schools of Saint-Mard, "College Georges Brassens of Saint Mard" and
the "Jacques Prevert School," both located north of Paris, France
experienced a successful contact with Mike Foale, KB5UAC, on April 1. The
contact took place at 18:27 UTC. The students' teacher, Jocelyn Raffray,
F5CAR relayed ten questions of the students to Foale. The students asking
the questions, the technical team and the educational team participating in
the contact were located in the radio room during the contact, while the
contact was relayed via amateur television to the school's main hall for an
audience of 150 students, teachers, parents, and media.


2.. Sonoran Sky School Contact Successful

The school group contact between Sonoran Sky Elementary, Scottsdale,
Arizona and the ISS was a tremendous success.  Astronaut Mike Foale,
KB5UAC, answered 21 questions (22 asked) during the 10 minute ham radio
contact.  This contact is the final school group contact for Expedition
8.  The contact started as scheduled at 1834 UTC.  It was a tremendous
horizon-to-horizon pass contact with every second utilized wisely.  The
contact was broadcast live at the school via amateur television where
approximately 500 students participated.  The contact will then be replayed
to the entire Scottsdale School district, which includes 44 schools, 30
elementary schools and 35,000 students.  There was significant press at the
contact, including Channel 10--Fox news, Channel 3 KTVK, Channel 12 NBC,
and the Arizona Republic and Scottsdale Tribune newspapers.

Sonoran Sky is expected to be the last Expedition 8 contact.  Thank you Mike
and Alexsandr for making all of the ARISS contacts possible.

Normal ARISS contacts are expected to resume on or after 2004-05-24.


3. ARRL Article on Ham Radio Licensed Astronauts' Promotions

On April 2, The ARRL Letter, which is distributed to 165,000 people,
published an article about astronauts who are hams who have been promoted to
key positions at NASA JSC. See:
http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/04/0402/


4. ARRL Sets up Booth at Science Teachers Association Conference

On March 29, ARRL's Mark Spencer went on travel in order to set up and staff
a booth at the National Science Teachers Association national conference.
He
took handout materials and hands-on items to attract the attention of
teachers, and thanks NASA for their support.


5. ARISS Delegates Follow-up Activities from ARISS International Meeting

With the ARISS International Meeting a tremendous success, the ARISS
Delegates are following up the meeting with necessary activities and
completion of action items. Rosalie White, ARISS Secretary Treasurer, edited
the minutes she took at the ARISS International Meeting held at the European

Space Agency in the Netherlands. She then debriefed the ARRL Board, her
management and ARRL's media branch on news from the meeting. Many of the
delegates and committee members are handling action items from the list
which was developed at the meetings.


6. Space Tourist Interested in ARISS Program

Dr. Gregory Olsen, a scientist who started his own company, Sensors
Unlimited, Inc., headed to Star City, Russia last week to begin training for
an eight day flight in space. As the next space tourist to take a ride on
the Soyuz, Olsen plans to do some research of his own. He has also expressed
an interest in the ARISS program and would like to make some school contacts
while aboard the ISS. He would like to train for his Amateur Radio license
with Nick Lance of JSC. He is scheduled to launch in April, 2005. For more
information, see:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/03/29/space.tourist.ap/index.html

[ANS thanks Carol for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-102.05
Eagle Q&A

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 102.05 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD.  April 11, 2004
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-102.05

Rick Hambly, W2GPS, AMSAT Executive Vice President and Board of Directors
member recently answered some questions about AMSAT's upcoming high Earth
orbiting satellite project Eagle.

Q:  I put together a pretty decent S-band downlink for AO-40, and had great
results! I really enjoyed U/s operation but am not in a position to build an
L-band uplink at this point.  Will U/s be included on Eagle?

A:  It's to soon to say for sure what will be on Eagle, but I would expect
Mode U/s will be accommodated to support all those who have invested in this
mode for AO-40.  One of the experimental modes that can be activated on Echo
is Mode U/s (FM voice and data only) but that will be a challenge due to the
high Doppler shift and the rapid movement.


Q:  Will Eagle have fixed transponders or a matrix such as was used on
AO-40?

A: The current state of Eagle's design includes a matrix so any
receiver can be connected to any transmitter.  The design is not finalized
and I expect there may be at least one exception to this, the mode C/c
transponder (see the C-C Rider article by W3IWI in the 2003 Proceedings).

[ANS thanks Rick, W2GPS for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-102.06
 FAA Issues License for Sub-Orbital Manned Rocket Tests

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 102.06 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD.  April 11, 2004
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-102.06

 The U.S. Department of Transportation announced Wednesday that it issued
the world's first license for a sub-orbital manned rocket flight.
The license was officially issued from April 1 by the Federal Aviation
Administration's Office of Commercial Space Transportation to Scaled
Composites of Mojave, Calif., headed by record setting aviator Burt Rutan,
for a sequence of sub-orbital flights spanning a one-year period.

The FAA sub-orbital space flight license is required for U.S. contenders in
the X-Prize competition, a high-stakes international race ultimately to
launch a manned, reusable private vehicle into space and return it safely to
Earth.

The X- Prize foundation will award $10 million to the first company or
organization to launch a vehicle capable of carrying three people to a
height of 100 kilometers (62.5 miles), return them safely to Earth, and
repeat the flight with the same vehicle within two weeks.

Twenty-seven contestants representing seven countries have already
registered for the X-Prize contest, modeled on the $25,000 Orteig Prize for
which Charles Lindbergh flew solo from New York to Paris in 1927.

In its 20 years of existence, the FAA's Office of Commercial Space
Transportation has licensed more than 150 commercial launches of unmanned
expendable launch vehicles. This license is the first to authorize manned
flight on a sub-orbital trajectory.

While the highest criteria to issue a license is public safety, applicants
must undergo an extensive pre- application process, demonstrate adequate
financial responsibility to cover any potential losses, and meet strict
environmental requirements.

[ANS thanks SpaceDaily for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-102.07
Hamvention 2004:  AMSAT events

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 102.07 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD.  April 11, 2004
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-102.07

Two more special events timed to coincide with Hamvention 2004 to report
this week. The Third Annual AMSAT "Pizza 'n' Suds" party will be held
Thursday evening May 13th.  Again this year the venue will be Marion's
Pizza at 1320 North Fairfield Rd.  The party will begin at 1830 and go
until the last pizza is gone! Food will be ordered from the menu and drinks
are available at the bar.

Also, the AMSAT Banquet will be held Friday evening at 1800.  Location is
the Amber Rose Restaurant at 1400 Valley St. in old north Dayton.   As with
past years the meal will be a buffet with a price of $25.00 per
person.  Reservations are required and the banquet is limited to 90 people
maximum.  Please contact Nancy Makley for reservations.  Her e-mail is
KC8GYW@amsat.org.  (N8NUY)


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-102.08
This Week's News in Brief

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 102.08 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD.  April 11, 2004
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-102.08

**   NASA has approved an extended mission for the Mars Exploration Rovers,
handing them up to five months of overtime assignments as they finish their
three-month prime mission. The mission extension provides $15 million for
operating the rovers through September. The extension more than doubles
exploration for less than a two percent additional investment, if the rovers
remain in working condition. The extended mission has seven new goals for
extending the science and engineering accomplishments of the prime
mission..  --SpaceDaily

**   Nanotechnology, a science devoted to engineering things that are
unimaginably small, may pose a health hazard and should be investigated
further, warns a University of Rochester scientist and worldwide expert in
the field, who received a $5.5 million grant to conduct such research. "We
must consider many different issues before we come to a judgment on risk,"
he says. "Foremost is an assessment of potential human and environmental
exposure by different routes: inhalation, ingestion, dermal. Then, what is
their fate in the organism? And what are the risks of cumulative effects,
given that these particles are being mass produced? At this point we're
trying to balance the tremendous opportunity that nanotechnology presents
with any potential harm." --SpaceDaily

/EX


In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the
President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to
AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive additional benefits.
Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office.

AMSAT has developed an on-line volunteer survey, designed to
identify the interests and skills of those who may be available to directly
help in efforts to develop the amateur satellite program. The survey is
designed to be completed and returned on-line, and takes only a few minutes
to fill out.  To request the survey, simply send an e-mail request
to:volunteer at AMSAT.org

73,
This weeks ANS Editor,
Lee McLamb, KU4OS, ku4os at AMSAT.org

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